


Off the Record

by darthneko



Series: What Matters Most [6]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Implied/Referenced Mpreg, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 12:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14977655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darthneko/pseuds/darthneko
Summary: Anduin had a sinking feeling he knew where this was going. He had always enjoyed Renzik's forthright bluntness and company and finding out the Goblin took exception to Anduin's personal life and choices was going to do more than sting.





	Off the Record

**Author's Note:**

> Follows immediately after [The Fate of the Queen's Reprisal](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14977208).

The brief tap at the door was ubiquitous with every page runner delivering courier packets, news, notes, or the occasional plate of food; Anduin called for the knocker to come in on automatic, glancing up when the door opened. The lack of anyone visible in the hallway beyond would have been cause for alarm but a quiet, gruff voice said "hey, boss" in a sharp, clipped accent and Anduin relaxed, sitting back and waiting for the only Goblin member of SI:7 to round the edge of his heavy desk and come into view. 

Mathias' second in command looked about like Anduin would have expected after several weeks scouting around the Broken Isles; fatigue, on the Goblin, manifested in the lowered droop of his long ears and a sallow undertone to his yellowish green skin. It was the unnaturally sober set of his broad mouth, the edges pulling down sharply, that made Anduin brace himself. "Renzik," he said, by way of greeting; formality was something that had never stood a chance against the small male's disregard for rank and manners. "Is there news?"

The question actually seemed to startle Renzik; the tips of his ears raised briefly and he shook his head, looking almost sheepish. "Nah... Least ways, nothing that won't keep." He shrugged, waving one long fingered hand as he took up a slouched lean against the side of Anduin's desk. "Dumped it all on Shaw already, he'll spit it back at ya tomorrow."

And yet there Renzik was, at an hour of the evening when Anduin himself should more reasonably have been in bed, and if Anduin didn't know better he might have sworn the Goblin looked almost... embarrassed. Uneasy, he decided, and that made Anduin equally uneasy, watching with narrowed eyes as Renzik shifted his weight in a tell more blatant than the senior SI:7 officer usually ever showed. 

"Is there a problem?" he asked, keeping his voice neutral, after a few more moments in which Renzik kept looking at the floor, the desk, the chair, or anything that wasn't Anduin. 

The Goblin started slightly, almost guiltily, one hand coming up to rub across his bald scalp and over the back of his neck. "No," Renzik said hastily. "Nah, no problem... well, maybe... kinda..." 

It would have been honestly amusing, how flustered the Goblin was, if it wasn't also alarming. Renzik huffed, exhaling sharply through his pursed lips. "Look," he said, with the air of someone quite possibly facing his own execution, and for the first time he looked up to meet Anduin's eyes, his expression terribly ernest and just as terribly uncomfortable. "You know I don't have any beef with whatever anyone does, right? Long as it's no skin off my neck. Not like I've got a lot of room to talk, right? So it's all fair, personal shit is personal, 'cept, well... except when it's not."

He was talking with his hands, sharp stabs and broad sweeps, and Anduin, blinking at him, was starting to wonder just what he had stepped into. "Sooo..." Renzik said, dragging the vowel sound out. "So, anyways, just so you know, I've gotten to kind of like Stoneclaw. He's a decent sort, right? Doesn't cause any fuss, no more than you'd expect, and the kids are fucking cute as snot, pardon the language. He'd got a good hand with 'em, even the sprog loves him, an' she's as good as a barometer so that's good enough for me.

"And," he continued, the words rushed as though it all might be easier if he spit them out faster, "we all - SI:7, I mean - have a kind of soft spot for Hardwire. Crazy bastard made our jobs easier with your dad, y'know? Knew we never had to worry much if the king showed up in some shit hole in the mage district as long as he had a big ol' bear with teeth an' claws backin' him up, and everyone was happier for it the morning after, so it was all good, right?"

Anduin had a sinking feeling he knew where this was going. He had always enjoyed Renzik's forthright bluntness and company and finding out the Goblin took exception to Anduin's personal life and choices was going to do more than sting; the anticipation of that put a frost cold note in his voice, sharper than he intended. "Is there a point to this?"

Renzik's ears sagged. "...Kinda, yeah," he sighed. "I just want you to know I don't have any problem with either of them, okay?" He scowled, scuffing the toe of one boot against a knot in the polished wooden floor. "An' I really _hate_ I gotta be the one doing this, but I wasn't gonna put it off on Shaw - shit, can you imagine him doing this? He's worse 'n useless at this kinda crap."

Patience was rapidly giving way to both frustration and irritation. "Renzik..."

The Goblin's hands came up, waving away anything Anduin was about to say in a flurry of frantic gestures. "This _sucks,_ " he said emphatically, "an' I'm sorry I have to do this, believe me, but do you _**know**_ how much time your consort-elect's spendin' with Hardwire?"

Anduin paused. That was not at all what he had expected, and it left him blinking at the Goblin, more than a little stunned and scrambling to catch up. "Hardwire is Ren's cousin," he pointed out at last, mildly.

Renzik's expression went through some very impressive twisting as he grimaced. "Sure," he said, looking as though the words tasted badly. "But there's cousins and then there's _cousins,_ and I just got back from Dalaran. My hat's off to Stoneclaw for passin' himself off as just another mercenary, even Greymane's guards haven't twinged on who he is, but _I_ sure as hell know him when I see him, and Hardwire too. And we're talkin' the kind of _cousins_ that are rentin' out a room with one bed over at the Blood Elf inn. _That_ kind of cousin, get me?"

The final emphasis had a fairly obscene gesture that accompanied it and when Anduin didn't immediately respond - couldn't, as he had the tip of his tongue caught firmly between his teeth and wasn't at all sure what, exactly, the pressure in his chest _was_ \- Renzik scowled up at him. "You know what I mean," he accused. "Don't you play that innocent crap with me."

Anduin had to swallow twice to make sure he had his voice under control, and it was still an effort. "Renzik... are you informing me that the father of my children is-" another swallow, his voice too tight in his throat where he was trying to push the completely inappropriate urge to laugh back, "- _cheating_ on me with his cousin?"

"Thank the fucking Light," Renzik groaned. " _You're_ th' one who said it, boss, not me. I'm just the messenger, okay? And I hate it, but you're the boss and I've got a duty to report so... so... yeah, alright. I've reported, and that's that." He dragged a hand over his face, grimacing. "Look, I don't ask for much, do I? So... do me this favor. Whatever you're gonna do about it, leave me out of it. 'Cus I like 'em, I do, an' if one of 'em's gotta go I don't wanna be the one making that call. Tap somebody else for the job, okay?"

By that point Anduin had a hand pressed firmly over his mouth; it was the only way to keep from dissolving into hysterical laughter. Renzik must have interpreted his hitched breaths and silence as something else, though, because the Goblin was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, almost frantic. "Aw hell... maybe it ain't that bad? Maybe... y'know, sometimes I'm wrong. Fuck, maybe we can just go with that, right? Maybe I'm readin' too much into it." He grabbed the tips of his own ears, twisting them. "And maybe they _weren't_ snoggin' in th' damned street, 'cus, y'know, Dalaran is all shiny and shit and it was sunset and the sun was comin' straight over th' wall and I just didn't see what I thought I saw, okay? Can we go with that? 'Cus..."

Anduin gave up, folding over to lean his elbows on his knees as he laughed. The relief swept through him like a wave and he laughed until his stomach hurt, until there were tears streaming down his cheeks and his lungs ached for a proper breath. It became laughter for its own sake at some point, going on and on, until Renzik had progressed from gaping at him in open mouthed surprise, to confusion, alarm, and finally an awkward sort of disgruntlement. "You'd better tell me you're okay," he said when Anduin could finally draw breath. "Shaw's gonna gut me and hang me up by my ears in a silithid hive if I broke you."

Wiping his face, Anduin managed to bring his breathing back under control. "Nothing broken," he confirmed to Renzik's relief. He took a deeper breath, holding it for a moment. "And Renzik... if you _had_ brought your concern to Master Shaw, he could have told you that Hardwire spends his nights in the royal quarters when he's here."

The Goblink blinked at him for a moment, mouth dropping open again. "Oh," he said dumbly, then " _ooooooooh,"_ his tone shifting into a knowing drawl of understanding. He straightened from how his shoulders had drawn up hunched during his 'report', briskly dusting his hands off. "Well, that's okay then."

That was also not a reaction Anduin could have predicted. He tilted his head, regarding the smaller male more soberly. "Is it?" he asked carefully.

Renzik shrugged. "Sure." Anduin's expression must have conveyed some measure of his disbelief because Renzik made a rude sound against his sharp teeth. "You're the king, aren't you? So yeah, it's fine. Now," he added thoughtfully, "if your dad were still alive I'd be lookin' for some plate mail and the nearest shelter, but you're the king now. You want it in your bed? You got it. Nothing to do with _me._ I'm just glad I don't have to go tell Amber to pick a sniper nest and start taking pot shots at either of them."

It was the oddest sensation, Anduin thought - acceptance and relief and the remnants of laughter, however inappropriate. It let him smile, shaking his head. "There will be no assassinations of anyone," he said. "In fact, I'd be very displeased if anything happened to either of them."

Renzik tipped him a casual salute. "You got it, boss." He blew out a breath, making an exaggerated gesture out of wiping his forehead. "Damn, am I glad you've got a taste for big and lots of claws, or this all could've been a whole lot more awkward."

Anduin shook his head, but it was impossible to take offense or even be properly embarrassed over Renzik's crudeness. "It's need to know only," he told the Goblin, though Renzik was already nodding. "And Renzik... thank you. For bringing it directly to me." 

The Goblin waved him off, shrugging. "Nobody else's business, right? And now it ain't mine either, so we're all good. And," he added brightly, his grin sharp toothed and sly, "last I heard, Hardwire's headed back here with some news, so at least by tomorrow you'll have a reason to knock off early instead of stayin' up burning candles on both ends over reports." 

That _was_ news and Anduin sat up sharper but Renzik had already turned away. He flipped his king an encouraging gesture in the thief cant slang that Anduin studiously pretended not to understand. "Already told Shaw," Renzik reminded him. "You'll get it tomorrow. I'm off-duty. 'Night, boss!" And just like that, he was gone.

Anduin breathed out slowly, more than a little dumbfounded with the surprise of it all. It was... good, though, he decided, and apparently at least one of his mates was headed back to Stormwind, even if it was only for a brief report. Anduin gave himself a shake, loosening his shoulders, and turned back to his reports with a smile.


End file.
